In Taiji It's Okay To Kill A Whale. But Touch a Twig End Up In Jail?!

What a strange and ironic juxtaposition of these two phrases.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale#/media/File:LF_Pilot_Whales_Goban_Spur.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale#/media/File:LF_Pilot_Whales_Goban_Spur.jpg

Creative Commons LF Pilot Whales Goban Spur by Mmo iwdg, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

What a strange and ironic juxtaposition of these two phrases. This can only be found in one place. Taiji, Japan, a spot where monsters, dressed like humans, sickly enjoy slaughtering cetaceans of all kind, whether they be Dolphins, porpoises, or whales.

The brutality seen in the drive hunts, the harpooning, the sickly psychotic celebrations, laughter, and the slaughters is incomprehensible, unless you’ve actually seen it in person or on a livestream.

Thousands of us bear witness to these horrific drives and slaughters daily, while a handful of individuals, who are very wealthy and greedy, perpetuate these callous murders.

Just in the last two days, a large pod of pilot whales were seen off the coast of Taiji, and terrifyingly driven into the cove. They did not give up easily, they fought for their lives for more than three hours. But, unfortunately, machines can outlast a pilot whale, and in particular, pilot whale babies.

This beautiful family of pilot whales consisted of around 30 or so larger, possibly adult whales, and roughly 14 babies and juveniles. Note: This information comes from the amazing Sea Shepherd cove guardians and Dolphin Project Cove Monitors. Individuals who I have the utmost respect for.

Once this family was corralled into the cove after fighting for three hours, they were exhausted, disoriented, and huddled together to protect the young, as any human family would do.

They were netted in overnight, without food, without water, and in extreme terror. Again, the cove guardians and Cove monitors displayed their empathy and solidarity by staying with them overnight.

Pilot whales, perhaps even more than any other dolphin species live in extremely close-knit families. They are led by a matriarch, they are taught culture, and they exist and share all family and life events. They may be more human than we are, and certainly more so than their captors are.

The next morning can only be described as extreme psychosis and displays of dominance by the killers.

They arrived at the cove early in the morning, separated out the matriarch and all the large adults, dragged them by their tails, surely drowning them, weakening them, and then let them bleed out and die; all of this witnessed by the young, the babies, and the juveniles.

I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to witness this in person, because the livestream footage was horrific enough.

To see the babies scared, disoriented, alone, searching for their murdered family members is gut wrenching, nauseating, simply sickening.

The psychopathic irony of all ironies is that if a cove monitor or guardian even brushes against a twig, they can be arrested and put in jail.

That is how twisted-in-the-head these people are. All they care about is money. They will take an incredible animal’s life and be displayed as a town hero; yet, if an outsider even touches a twig, they are arrested.

After the monsters took their leisurely lunch while adult pilot whales struggled for their last breath, they then proceeded to drive the remaining babies and juveniles back into the open ocean; unwillingly. They would have preferred to stay with their stricken family.

Without any adults left, their fate is unknown, but, they will more than likely die of starvation, or perhaps even from the stress of what they have just been through.

Releasing the babies was in no way honorable, no way decent, and in no way merciful. They released the babies in order to not have them count against their annual quota of slaughters. See, slaughtering a baby does not provide much meat, but counts against their quota. Therefore, releasing them does not make them count even though they may be as good as dead.

My hope for these babies is that they gained enough knowledge from the adults that they may be strong enough and numerous enough to survive this ordeal.

Even more than that, my hope is that these drives and slaughters will come to an end forever. It’s been done before (see “Can Taiji Re-Brand Itself?”). It’s amazing how a small group of people can unleash such terror and be so horrible to nature.

My sense is they don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. That’s why they continue to slaughter innocent dolphins, that’s why they continue to harpoon innocent whales yet do so under the guise of “research.” This is why they will bribe other countries to support their efforts, because they don’t seem to care about lives, only their wallets, and their cars, and their “things.”

Please Rest In Peace, beautiful pilot whale family, my heart, my tears, my ongoing fight is with you. And, to the Cove guardians and monitors. THANK YOU.

Follow Dana Ellis Hunnes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/recipe4survival

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